Between Dogs And Man
by Shocky
Summary: Pre-MGS1. Snake learns a few things about huskies and about himself.


When he originally bought the dogs from a breeder in a quiet settlement, he wasn't looking for companionship. All they were to him were a means of transportation; snowmobiles had the possibility of breaking down or running out of fuel, and in the harsh Alaskan winters that was not something Dave wanted to risk. They were just young pups then, four months old at the most – but it was best to start training early. By the time winter hit, they would be well disciplined and big enough to pull the weight of the sled from his cabin to the nearest town and back.

Things didn't go as smoothly as planned. By the end of the first week, the puppies escaped. Dave went out to their paddock during his new morning routine of feeding and teaching a few basic commands to the pups, only to find there wasn't a single wagging tail in sight. Dave's first thought was that someone came to steal them, but that suspicion was quickly put to rest when he located a tear in the wire fence with a hole dug out beneath it. Dave was struck by the familiarity of such a tactic and had to laugh, as shortlived as it was.

Dave dedicated several days to searching the nearby wilderness for any trace of the dogs. In the end, of the six pups that had escaped, only three of them were ever recovered; the rest were likely doomed to either starve to death or be eaten by bears. He'd have to replace them at a later date.

From then on, Dave kept a much closer eye on the dogs. He repaired the fence and let them sleep in the cabin at night. He even picked names for the three remainders: Paprika, with her light red coat and differently coloured eyes; Pepper, with dark grey fur and small freckle-like spots around his nose; and Basil, a slightly lighter shade of grey than Pepper and with a dark mask around his eyes. In spending more time with them, he noticed that he shared a lot more in common with the dogs than he ever would have suspected.

Huskies, were very independent. That didn't mean they were untrainable; it just took a strong, assertive leader to show them who was in charge. Someone who knew what had to be done, no matter what was at stake. But he'd already lost three dogs due to his own carelessness, so he'd have to work doubly hard to prove himself to be a good leader. At times Dave caught himself thinking of his position as similar to that of a Commanding Officer, and immediately felt disgusted with himself. He'd left that life far behind.

Huskies were very talkative. They didn't bark much, but they did howl and make grumbling sounds. Dave would talk back to them in his own growling about his philosophies on life and loyalty, and even though their replies were unintelligible to him, he liked to believe they were holding up their own end of the conversation and supplying a drastically different view point. Many evenings were dedicated to such debates.

Huskies were very playful. On a mission, Snake never had the time to play and relax (but it didn't stop him from cracking the occasional sarcastic comment), and while he was alone Dave had little to entertain himself with, but his dogs' "let's go!" attitude encouraged him to get up and play with him too. From play wrestling to playing fetch with a balled up old sock, Dave found not only did giving his dogs an outlet for their energy distract them from their destructive tendencies against his furniture, but it distracted Dave from his own destructive tendencies against himself.

There was one major difference between himself and his dogs. Dave's whole reason to moving to his Alaskan retreat was to get away from people, and he often went around his property, checking on the traps he'd set up to deter unwanted company. The dogs were an added bonus, as they would warn him when a stranger was approaching the house... so he thought. As it turned out, huskies were very friendly toward strangers and simply wagged their tails in greeting as the masked men stormed the cabin.

Dave only realized this one crucial fact when he felt the cloth pressed up against his face.


End file.
